1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus to mass-personalize and customize merchandize, and provide online services for their purchase. These services include personalized configuration, intelligent recommendations, guided selection, and simplified purchase processes.
2. Description of Related Art
The advent of the Internet and Internet Commerce allows consumers to search for, or purchase merchandize on-line over a global computer network from anywhere at anytime. The browsing, selection, and purchasing processes on the Internet Commerce sites are similar to that of the information sites: “browse a list, select one item, view, back to the list, select another item, view, back to the list, and repeat,” thus cycling, until desired information is found, or a purchasing decision is made. FIG. 1 illustrates this conventional Internet shopping process in detail. It is repetitive, click/wait intensive, and lack intelligent computerized assistance.
The home pages of Internet shopping sites universally contain three parts: a category list, a “featured” merchandize list, and a “search” box. Shoppers can choose to browse by categories, or by entering a “search” phrase in the “search” box. Or, if the “featured” list looks interesting, browse the featured list. All three routes can only be done with a “one-at-a-time” process. The shopper can only select one category among the list of categories at a certain categorization level, by moving the cursor to the text-string representing the category, using the computer input device—the “mouse.” Then, click the left button on the “mouse,” and wait for the linked page to download to the shopper's computer from the site server. The page usually contains the next level categories organized under that particular category, unless the end of the particular category path is reached.
Similarly, only one “featured item” can be selected and clicked, for its linked descriptions to download, and viewed. The search function usually yields either too large a list, or too small and incomplete of a list, or nothing at all.
Even the most advanced state-of-the-art search engines do not always work effectively to find “all” of the items that truly “qualify” the intended/desired rendered with the search phrase. When a search phrase is entered to command the search engine, the search engine looks for descriptions containing any number of words present in the search phrase. For example, if “romantic summer dresses” is entered, the search engine will likely return with a very large list of all items with descriptions containing any combination of the three words, such as “romantic” anything, “summer” anything, and anything with “dresses” In the description. Such example is shown with Shopping.Yahoo.Com (FIG. 2). In FIG. 3A1. “Romantic Dresses” is entered into the “search” box of Shopping.Yahoo.Com under Women's Apparel category. The result list contains a “Romantic” CD, a “Romantic” jewelry set, and two “Romantic” cardigans. No “dresses” were found, probably because the descriptions of dresses do not contain the word “dresses,” but use “dress” as a descriptor instead. The more advanced engines allow users to specify searching for “all of the words,” or the “exact phrase.” Such engines limit the size of the result list. However, they also risk not finding or not including qualified items on the result list.
Therefore, in most cases, category browsing is the preferred path for serious browsers looking for information or merchandize. The basic steps of the category browsing process can be described as the following:                I. Browse and surf the first level of available/listed categories of the site on the home page.        II. Choose a category of interest, click, wait for a web page to download onto the shopper's computer screen, and view the subcategories thus brought forth to the shopper's computer from the site server.        III. Repeat step II, until the last level of the categorization path on the site is reached, and a merchandize item list is displayed on the shopper's computer screen.        IV. Review the item list, and choose and click on ONE item from the list that seems interesting.        V. Wait for the description of the item to be sent from the site-server.        VI. Review the description, and decide whether you wish to purchase the item.        VII. If affirmative, “add” the item into the virtual “shopping cart” of the site. If negative, click on the “back” function icon, and return to the list to choose another item on the list. Thus cycling.        VIII. Choose to “check out,” or “continue shopping.”        IX. If “continue shopping” is chosen, the server sends the home page onto the shopper's computer, and steps I through VIII are repeated.        X. You may view the items in the “shopping-cart,” one-at-a-time, by clicking on ONE item among the list of items you have “added” into the “shopping cart;” wait for the description to download from the server onto the shopper's computer display screen. Review the information. Return to the “shopping cart” content list, and repeat the process. What you see in this process is exactly the image and description of the item as seem in Step V.        
There is no artificial intelligence or process automation applied to enable or perform selection, recommendation, configuration, or custom order functions.
A manifestation of this known-art Internet shopping process is illustrated in the purchasing of women's apparel items from Shopping.Yahoo.Com, the largest, best funded, and the most advanced E-Commerce portal. For details, see FIG. 2, and its description in the “BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS” section.
The “search” function bypasses the category-browsing steps. By entering a short text string in the “search” box, and invoke the search function by clicking on the “search” button,” the search engine looks for items in the site-server database containing either any combination of words in the text string, and sends a listing of search result with a brief description to each item on the list to the desk-top display screen. Usually some items on the list are relevant, and some are not. The viewer of the list performs the intelligence process: “browse” the list, make judgment, select one item, click, wait, view the description page sent forth, make a decision, return to the list, pick another item, and repeat.”
The “search” process is illustrated with the Shopping.Yahoo.Com site. When the word “skirt” (itself also a category in women's apparel) is entered in the “search” box on the site home-page FIG. 3B1, FIG. 3B2 is sent from the site-server. There are 10 category-paths where the word “skirt” is found, and 2,949 product entries found in the product database containing a word “skirt.” The first 1 through 20 items are listed in FIGS. 3B2, 3B3, and 3B4. In order to narrow the search result to a manageable size, we enter into the “search box” on FIG. 3B4, “mid-length skirts” (a text string that is also a subcategory for “Skirts” on the category listing), click on the “search” button, and wait. FIG. 3C1 is sent from the site server, showing one category path with 6 items, as well as the 2 other items found outside of the category path. When the category path is clicked, the listing of the 6 items is shown on the subsequent page sent from the site-server as shown in FIG. 3C2. If the search phrase is changed to “long skirts,” itself also a subcategory under “Skirts” category, FIGS. 3D1 and 3D2 are sent to the shopper's computer screen from the site server, showing the 3 category paths where the phrase “long skirts” are found, and the first 20 of the 354 items found in the Shopping.Yahoo.Com linked e-stores outside of the 3 search category paths. Search results are less convincing when a “non-category” phrase is entered. As described earlier in FIG. 3A, results for “romantic dresses.” The two items of the four found are not apparel items, and the other two items are cardigans, not dresses. FIG. 4 shows a similar shopping process at another state-of-the-art site, GAP.COM.
Other examples of merchandize that require fitting and coordination of sub-systems are large Kitchen Appliances. While there are sites that provide information and refer appliance shoppers to dealers and resellers, there exists no Internet site to date, where large appliances, such as kitchen appliances can be purchased. The most advanced sites that contain the most comprehensive information, graphics, specifications, and sophistication of kitchen appliances presentations are the GEAppliances.Com and the HomePortfolio.com sites. The GEAppliances.Com (FIG. 5) is the appliances section of the General Electric site, GE.Com. The HomePortfolio.Com (FIG. 6) is an up-scale home furnishing information portal site. The algorithm and processes on these two sites are the same as other sites, generally described in the process flowchart FIG. 1 and the process step descriptions in pages 3 and 4 of this application. There is no correlation in the database between a number of required items that form a subsystem or a system; such as correlating Ventilation Hoods, lighting components and other accessories, and Back-splashes, to a group of Cooking Ranges with various options. The Cooking Ranges, for example, is presented as a category separate from the Hoods and the Back-guards, listed with separate and individual model numbers under each brand, with various available combinations of options of size, width, cook-top/oven arrangements, and fuel options. Each combination of is treated as an individual product with its own model number and an individual view button to view details one-at a time, and otherwise uncorrelated (See FIG. 5). The Back-guards (back-splashes) to the ranges and the Ventilation Hoods are treated as separate product lines. It is entirely up to the shopper to surf and view all information, category-by-category, and item-by-item, to figure out what are out there: the options, the connections between models, what is available to match what. This is an intimidating and tedious task even for the professionals in the “know.” Thus, all appliance sites serve only as information posting, lead generation, and dealer referral network, without purchasing or ordering functions.
The most recent “Virtual-Reality” or “3D software, such as Macromedia Shockwave are devised to allow using the pointer and mouse to rotate a still photograph of an individual still-object on the computer screen to connect to, and view images of the other sides of the object (the shopper's computer needs to be equipped with the required client software), as shown in FIG. 7. In other instances, Apple Quick-Time allows computer users to use the mouse device to “rotate” a room, by downloading and accessing images taken by a “360°” rotating/panning camera to scan a stationary house or a store from continually varying angles. Primitive motion-video or streaming-video are used to broadcast conferences, motion-pictures/movies, or television-like programming to the shopper's computer over the Internet or the Corporate Intranet.
An object container, such as a “folder,” a “shopping cart,” or a “shopping bag,” are used to deposit multiple individual items as a list of unrelated individual instances, when the on-line shopper purchases multiple items, as individual instances of purchases, unassisted and self-coordinated, or, randomly. These containers can be “opened” to see the collected items listed separately as individual items. Only one link token representing one single particular item can be clicked to allow the shopper to view the graphics and the detailed descriptions of the item again, as seen before it was deposited into the shopping container (FIGS. 2M, 1N, and 1O).
No process, method or apparatus exists to-date on the Internet that performs recommendation, selection, coordination, and composition and display systematically, of the gathering of information of, and/or purchases of multiple items.